If you lost income due to an injury or believe that an injury has somehow prevented you from career advancement, New York law may entitle you to significant compensation. At the Law Offices of Ivan Diamond, we know how to get people the compensation to which they are entitled after a serious injury, including damages for their future losses. To schedule a free case evaluation with attorney Ivan Diamond, call our office today at (718) 588-2000 or contact us online.
Any degree of injury can cause you to put your life on hold. Sometimes, this simply entails missing work to go to the emergency room, doctor’s office, or physical therapy appointments. You miss a few hours or days of work during your recovery and then you may go back to life as usual. Other times, however, an injury may cause a significantly more severe disruptions in your life—especially regarding your career.
Serious injuries can cause you to stop working for extended periods of time for:
- Medical treatments - Though medical treatments take time, you should always make them your first priority after a serious injury. Put your treatment first even if doing so will require you to take a substantial amount of time off of work. Some catastrophic injuries may not give you much choice—for example, a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can put you in a coma and in the intensive care unit (ICU) for weeks or months. You may then have to live in a rehabilitative facility before you can return home to take care of yourself. Spinal cord injuries often require extended hospitalizations to monitor the effects and potential complications of your injuries. Victims of serious burns may need to stay in a burn center. Obviously, you will not work while you undergo such treatments.
- Recovery requirements - Sometimes, to recover from a serious injury, you must rest—physically, mentally, or both. Pushing yourself can often exacerbate the effects of an injury, such as with TBIs. Even moving around may aggravate some injuries and prevent them from healing. If your doctor orders you to rest as part of your recovery, you will need to take a leave of absence from work.
- Impairments - Many injuries can cause impairments. These can include physical impairments, such as the inability to lift items or even walk, or cognitive impairments, such as difficulty processing information due to a brain injury. Many impairments will damage your ability to perform your job. For example, a commercial driver who tears the ligaments or tendons in a limb cannot drive a truck.
Some injuries cause permanent impairments, including paralysis from spinal cord injuries or permanent cognitive disabilities from TBIs. In these cases, you may never return to your previous job again. Some victims may find another line of work—which may pay substantially less—if they can work at all.
The Importance of Retaining an Attorney
If you were injured in an accident that has damaged your ability to work and earn a living, retain a skilled lawyer to protect your rights. Insurance companies are much more concerned with their bottom lines than they are with your well-being, and they will do everything they can to minimize the amount they pay out.
Insurance companies typically contest cases where future losses are at issues, because they can involve months, years, or even a lifetime of losses. Victims need to present evidence of how much they reasonably expected to earn but for the accident, accounting for future career advancement and raises. This often involves retaining an actuary to estimate your future earnings by looking at your background, age, education, work history, health, and various other factors. An attorney familiar with personal injury law will generate evidence of future losses and present it in a way to which a court or insurance company will respond.
Even in cases where only past losses are at issue, insurance companies can prove extremely reticent to fairly compensate victims for the losses they have sustained. They can make low-ball offers, unnecessarily delay the processing of claims, or scour your medical records for conditions that they will claim were “preexisting” and not related to your accident. Fortunately, retaining an attorney will protect your rights and help you obtain the compensation to which you are entitled under New York law.
But How Much Will Legal Representation Cost?
If you’re dealing with an inability to work, taking on additional costs in the form of legal fees may seem like a bad idea. Fortunately, at the Law Offices of Ivan Diamond, we enter into a contingentcy fee agreement with all of our personal injury clients. This means that there are no up-front costs associated with retaining a lawyer and you will not owe anything for our services unless we successfully recover compensation on your behalf. If we do not secure a settlement or award for you, you will not owe anything in legal fees. Finally, any fees we collect will automatically come out of your compensation, so at no point will you need to use money you already have to pay for a lawyer.
Contact a Bronx, New York City Catastrophic Injury Attorney to Discuss Your Rights
The expenses and lost future income from a serious injury can prove extensive. If you are at the start of a lucrative career and then suffer a permanent disability, you can lose out on millions of dollars of future income, compounded by the costs of treating your injury. A true New Yorker, Ivan M. Diamond was born in Brooklyn, raised in Manhattan, and works out of the Bronx. Since 1995, Ivan Diamond has helped injury victims recover compensation for their losses, including lost income. Please call (718) 588-2000 or contact the firm online for a free consultation.
